I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 according to my help. When I press alt-tab, the display flashes a bit and then all my windows have no title bar. Without a title bar at the top, I can't even restart. All I can do is turn off the power. I had a terminal window open during one of these alt-tab presses, and I'm unable to type in the terminal window. This was working until today when I was asked to install some upgrade.

Please don't advise me to not press alt-tab. I'm have difficulty not pressing alt-tab due to habit and I'm not getting my work done when I have to powerdown a couple of times every hour.

This case happens in situation where u hold the alt key for a while (say 2 to 3 secs) and press the tab button, then monitor flashes implies unity breakdowns and move all the applications to single workspace, if you repeat it second time , you will end up with un accessible desktop where all applications hang.

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Shouldn't this be reported as a bug on launchpad instead?
–
BenjaminFeb 2 '12 at 12:18

As far as the left bar thing, try Cairo..you can find it in your ubuntu unity for installing programs. It gives you a bar at the bottom of the screen like windows and I believe you have the option of turning off the l. bar too.

That's a bug that has already been reported on Launchpad here and/or here.

As a workaround, you can install Unity 2D and use it instead of the normal Unity 3D. To run Unity 2D, click on the little gear (⚙) in the Login window, where you enter your password (LightDM). There you can select Unity 2D.